Sound Tigers notebook: Sandy Hook Day pushed to April 6

Updated 12:43 am, Wednesday, January 16, 2013

SANDY HOOK DAY POSTPONED: The Bridgeport Sound Tigers will honor the Sandy Hook community and families on April 6 instead of Sunday, the team announced Tuesday.

After speaking with members of the Newtown community in recent weeks, we've been asked to honor those lost and their families later in the season," Sound Tigers president Howard Saffan said in a statement.

"We want to respect the community's wishes during this difficult time, and we look forward to hosting them on a very special night in April."

The team still plans to present jerseys to families of the children who died Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Bridgeport players each wore the last name of one of the children in place of their own names on Dec. 22.

SHUFFLED DEFENSEMEN: The New York Islanders claimed two defensemen off waivers the past two days, then sent Ty Wishart back to the Sound Tigers on Tuesday afternoon.

Thomas Hickey -- who was in his fourth season with Manchester, where Scott Pellerin was an assistant coach for six seasons before becoming Bridgeport's head coach this season -- and Joe Finley joined the Islanders from Los Angeles and Buffalo, respectively.

That gives New York nine defensemen, not counting Lubomir Visnovsky, who has remained home in Slovakia. The Islanders open their season Saturday night, the same night as Bridgeport's next game.

The Sound Tigers released Dan Maggio, who had a solid AHL debut Sunday, to rejoin his depleted Fort Wayne (ECHL) team.

ICING RULE WAVED OFF: The AHL will revert to touch-up icing beginning with Friday's games to mirror NHL rules. It had used a hybrid icing rule -- no touch required, waved off only if an attacking player would clearly reach the puck first -- as an experiment through the first half of the season.

WELCOME BACK: The Islanders and Sound Tigers will scrimmage Wednesday night at 7 at Nassau Coliseum. Admission is free.